New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn is closing in on the 40 percent target needed to
avoid a runoff election as she leads the Democratic primary for mayor with 37 percent, more than
three other candidates combined, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Public Advocate Bill de Blasio has 14 percent, with 11 percent for 2009 Democratic
mayoral candidate William Thompson and 9 percent for Comptroller John Liu, the independent
Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. Another 27 percent are undecided.

There is a small reverse gender gap as Quinn gets 40 percent of men and 34 percent of
women.

More New York City voters are comfortable with a woman, an African American, a
Hispanic-American, an Asian-American, a gay or lesbian or someone married to a gay or lesbian
as mayor than are comfortable with a business executive as mayor. Deciding whether they are
"enthusiastic about" or "comfortable with" various hypothetical candidates for mayor, voters say:

15 percent enthusiastic and 63 percent comfortable with a gay or lesbian candidate;

13 percent enthusiastic and 63 percent comfortable with a candidate married to a gay or
lesbian;

10 percent enthusiastic and 47 percent comfortable with a business executive candidate.

"Council Speaker Christine Quinn is edging up toward that magic 40 percent that would
make her the Democratic nominee without a primary run-off. Is that possible in a four-
candidate field? We'll watch as this develops," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac
University Polling Institute.

"It's still early, unless the State Legislature moves the primary up to June," Carroll
added.

"When asked for a self-assessment, New Yorkers say they are remarkably unbiased."

"But they're true to one stereotype about a super-liberal city - only being a business
executive draws significant negative votes in a mayoral candidate."

New York City voters know very little about the Republican candidates for mayor:

The percentage of voters who don't know enough about these candidates to form an
opinion ranges from 66 to 93 percent.

By margins of up to 3-1, voters back any of the leading Democrats over Lhota:

Quinn leads 63 - 19 percent;

de Blasio is up 58 - 18 percent.

Thompson is ahead 55 - 20 percent;

Liu leads 53 - 22 percent.

"If two-thirds of New Yorkers don't know anything about you, can you be elected
mayor? That's the question for Lhota. Every one of the Democrats clobbers him," Carroll said.
"But if Lhota is fairly anonymous, the other Republican mayoral wannabes are all but invisible."

New York City voters approve 60 - 24 percent of the job Quinn is doing, compared to a
64 - 18 percent approval rating in a January 16 Quinnipiac University poll. Voters give Quinn a
51 - 21 percent favorability rating. Approval and favorability ratings for other candidates are:

Liu: 50 - 26 percent approval and 34 - 23 percent favorability;

de Blasio: 50 - 19 percent approval and 39 - 13 percent favorability;

Thompson: 34 - 10 percent favorability with 55 percent who don't know enough about
him to form an opinion. There is no job approval since he does not hold public office.

If a mayoral candidate supports raising taxes on the wealthy, 55 percent of voters say
they are more likely to vote for that candidate, with 17 percent less likely and 26 percent who say
it won't affect their vote.

From February 20 - 25, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,017 New York City voters
with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell
phones. The survey includes 655 Democrats with a margin of error of +/- 3.8 percentage points.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia
and the nation as a public service and for research.

For more information or RSS feed, visit http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201,
or follow us on Twitter.

1. (If Registered Democrat) If the Democratic primary for Mayor were being held today, and the candidates were: John Liu, Christine Quinn, William Thompson, and Bill de Blasio, for whom would you vote?

TREND: (If Registered Democrat) If the Democratic primary for Mayor were being held today, and the candidates were: John Liu, Christine Quinn, William Thompson, and Bill de Blasio, for whom would you vote?

34. If a candidate for Mayor is - a person who has a spouse who is gay or lesbian, is that someone you would be enthusiastic about, be comfortable with, have some reservations about, or be very uncomfortable with?